Citizen engagement and urban change: Three case studies of material deliberation

Public participation in urban planning and development is a widely used process which seeks to enable better decision making. In this paper we address critiques of such deliberation – that it relies on the discursive to the detriment of experiential, material or affective modes of expression – and describe three case studies of participation which emphasise, in different ways, ‘material deliberation’. We close by discussing the ways in which such material deliberative practices can best be understood as components of a wider deliberative society.

► Participatory planning is often overly reliant on reasoned argument.
► Such processes should also highlight material and affective dimensions.
► Art, online games, and immersive environments can help access these.
► Such public participation can be understood as contributing to a ‘deliberative society’.